Thai Coconut Chicken Soup (Tom Ka Gai)

Have you ever ordered a dish from a restaurant and thought, “This is good, but I would make some changes”? And that’s not to say the restaurant doesn’t know what it’s doing, but you would rather add (or remove) a few things.

The other day I ordered takeout from the nearby Thai restaurant and I had their Tom Ka soup. I thoroughly enjoyed the broth. It packed so much flavor and just enough spiciness for me. But I wanted more. Specifically, I wanted a lot more vegetables in my soup. So, I decided to try my hand at making Tom Ka Gai (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup).

There was one ingredient (galangal) that I knew I would not find in the supermarket closest to my home. So after work one day, I biked over to a nearby Asian supermarket to get some galangal and then I began my soup experiment. It turns out that this soup is actually pretty easy to make once you have the right ingredients.

This recipe calls for fish sauce. One thing I want to point out about fish sauce is that it has an extremely high sodium content level. Read the nutrition label of your fish sauce. I strongly recommend that you keep your sodium intake in mind when determining how much fish sauce you add.

There is something inexplicably comforting about enjoying a hot bowl of soup on a cool day. So let’s get cooking. Try this recipe and let me know what you think.

Fun fact:Lemongrass is also called fever grass in the Caribbean. It is consumed as a herbal tea and used as a fever reducer.

*If you don’t have thai chillies, you can some spiciness by using jalapenos, Sriracha sauce or red pepper flakes.

**If you can’t find galangal, add little more ginger. These two roots have different flavors, but ginger is probably your best substitute.

METHOD

1. Prepare ingredients: Slice galangal into 4 to 5 large pieces. Remove outer layer of lemongrass stalks; lightly pound stalks with handle of a large knife or another heavy object; slice stalks into 2-inch pieces. Remove stems from chilies and slice them. Set aside these ingredients for now.

About MyBodyMyKitchen

I'm Sean, founder of My Body My Kitchen (MBMK). I am dedicated to empowering my readers to live a healthy life. The food we eat and how it is prepared greatly affects our health. Through MBMK I empower my readers to take control of their health by providing them with the tools need to take control of your kitchens. I started MBMK in January 2015, after an overwhelming demand for my recipes on my personal Instagram account.